The Great Thrift Challenge! Save money while grocery shopping!

We all look this good while grocery shopping, don’t we?? 🙂

SAVE MONEY WHILE SHOPPING!If you are serious about staying in your budget, this is the battleground! You’ve gotta be prepared…if you are not, please read Saving Money BEFORE You Leave the House. When you walk in that store, know that you are in a battle…for your hard earned cash. So, read on…and see how you can outsmart your grocery store!

1. Spending Tally Sheet. You’ve got to know how much you are spending before you get to the cash register. Are you going to put back those gallons of milk, if you overspent? Of course not! But, if you keep track as you are shopping, you are much less likely to purchase things on impulse.

To keep a tally sheet, you can make it as simple or complex as you want (I prefer the simple!) You can keep track on your envelope that is holding your list and coupons. I discourage trying to keep track in your head. Between trying to check on a list, look at ingredients & checking prices…it can get pretty difficult to know how much you have spent, so far, in your cart. I bring only the cash I want to spend, so I have to know how much I have in my cart.

One day, my son was with me and he kept a tally for me. He loved it and I actually did too…one less thing for me to think about and it kept him occupied. Be creative!

My 7 year-old son’s tally sheet! 🙂 I love it!

2. Stay on the perimeter of the store ( & stay away from all the prepackaged foods!) Instead, concentrate on purchasing the majority of your groceries in produce, meat, dairy, bakery departments…this should be where you spend the majority of your time… for your health and wealth! 🙂

3. Buy This, Not That! – I have heard this a million times, but it is true, when you LOOK UP & LOOK DOWN you will notice that the same item is usually cheaper per ounce or pound, simply because of a more economical packaging. i.e. Swanson’s Chicken Broth:

The left box is more convenient, but the right can is cheaper and has one more ounce of the exact same product! That’s a no-brainer for me. More product, less money.

Purchased at Sam’s Club and it will last me FOREVER. Way cheaper than the small packs of yeast at the grocery store!

Why do I still buy the little cans? The big cans are cheaper per ounce…but, they are always on the bottom shelf, so I don’t always notice them.

4. Keep a Price Book. Then (and only then!) will you know what a good price is! What is your buy point? What price per pound will you pay for ground beef, chicken, ham, turkey, etc. Is that giant bag of chocolate chips at the warehouse a good deal or is it a better deal to purchase at the grocery store when it is on sale for $1 for a small bag? These questions will be answered when you keep a price book. You will begin to see which stores offer the lower prices on certain items. Buy one, get one free is NOT always the cheapest option!

5. Buy Big Meat – If you have a freezer, buy the big hams and turkeys when they are on sale before and after the holidays. The meat will feed your family for a week.

Yum! That’s all that needs to be said 🙂

6. Impulse Basket – Place a small basket on the baby seat of the grocery cart and put in every impulse item that you want to purchase, but is not on your list. Will you discover at the end, that you aren’t sticking with your list? Or, are you a poor list maker and forgot all these items? Or, are they wise decisions, finding something on clearance that you actually will use? This is a great tool, to help you descriminate wisely on your impulse purchases. Go through your basket before you check out and decide if these purchases are wise and fit into your budget.

7. Use only cash! You will have a limit on what you can spend for the week. Make sure it is enough to purchase what you need on your list…but, not enough to purchase a ton of impulse purchases. I don’t bring my entire grocery budget for the month. I bring just that week’s cash and no more!

9. Be aware of retailing – Retailers place products on display that are not always on sale. Sometimes they are the specials. But often, retailers have found purchases for items on display go up, whether or not they are on sale. Pay attention this week and see how many displays promote items that are NOT on sale at your store.

10. Know your store. My store has some GREAT discounts on produce. I just purchased two acorn squash for 1.29. They put out fruit and veggies a little past their prime…and they are always huge packages for 1.29! Love it, can’t always use what they have, but I always look there first. Their meat gets reduced by 50% when the expiration date is nearing. I am pretty picky on the meat, but if it looks good, I buy it and then freeze it as soon as I get home.

11. DON’T GO BACK!! When you shop for items throughout the week that you run out of, you will on average spend 54% more! yike! If you absolutely must go back, take in $5, purchase only the item you need and get out quick!

I hope you are enjoying this series on staying on your budget at the grocery store. If you have any tips to share, please leave a comment below! We would love to hear how you do it! Kristen

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Hi Julie! Thanks so much! I think there are a few ways to get the updates automatically…one would be to sign up as a follower. I think it is supposed to email you? I will check up on that. On blogs that I follow, I sign up to have them in my Google Reader, then when they have a post, it just goes to my Reader. It is really handy. 🙂 Love ya, it’s good to hear from you!